KETOROLAC, DICLOFENAC AND KETOPROFEN ARE EQUALLY EFFICACIOUS FOR PAINRELIEF AFTER TOTAL HIP-REPLACEMENT SURGERY

We have compared the efficacy of ketorolac 30 mg i.v. followed by infu sion at a rate of 90 mg/15.5 h, with that of diclofenac 75 mg followed by infusion of 75 mg/15.5 h or ketoprofen 100 mg followed by infusion of 100 mg/15.5 h, on postoperative pain in 85 patients after hip repl acement surgery under spinal anaesthesia in a prospective, double-blin d, randomized study. Supplementary analgesia was administered during t he 16-h postoperative period with bolus doses of fentanyl delivered by a patient-controlled analgesia system. Mean total consumption of PCA- administered fentanyl was 890 (SD 400) mu g in the ketorolac group, 92 0 (550) mu g in the diclofenac group and 850 (350) mu g in the ketopro fen group (ns). Median VAS scores were low over the entire study in ea ch group and there was no significant difference between groups. No se rious adverse events were recorded.